Harare - The violent occupation of white-owned farms by ruling
party militants has impoverished hundreds of farmworkers and their families and
threatens to devastate thousands more, the workers' union says. The situation
will only worsen if the government continues with its program to nationalise the
white-owned commercial farms without making provisions for the hundreds of
thousands of people who work and live there, according to the General
Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union. Farm disruptions by the militants
have driven about 5 000 workers from their homes in the past six months, said
Philip Munyanyi, the union leader. At least another 10 000 jobs were in
immediate jeopardy on hundreds of farms that the government plans to seize and
redistribute to landless blacks over the next few weeks, he said.

In most districts, workers were told they would not receive any
of the redistributed land. Around the town of Bindura, 80km northeast of Harare,
militant squatters on the occupied farms seized workers' houses for themselves,
forcing the displaced to erect makeshift shelters of plastic sheets and straw.
Police mostly failed to restore order and farm owners were powerless to
intervene, Munyanyi said. "Many people have no place to stay. They are
desperate, they are just wandering about," he said. The CFU, which represents
most of the country's white farm owners, said government officials told them
that 214 white farmers were scheduled to receive confiscation orders by the end
of the week. Those properties will then immediately become state land. Though
the government has refused to pay compensation for the land itself, the owners
will have 90 days to make claims for compensation for buildings and other
improvements they have made. At the end of that period, they must abandon the
land.

Some demoralized farmers were already considering moving out
sooner, said Steve Crawford, a CFU official. Under existing labour laws,
departing farmers were not obliged to pay off their workers, Munyanyi said. New
occupiers were required to take over responsibility for the workers. "This has
not been addressed at all. We must have legislation to provide for workers," he
said. The government has listed 800 white-owned commercial farms it has targeted
for confiscation and announced earlier this month it is selecting another 2 300
properties, comprising about half the nation's white-owned land, for
resettlement by landless blacks. That plan threatened the jobs of at least half
the 700 000 workers employed by white farmers, Munyanyi said. "While there has
been talk of compensation to farmers, there has been no talk of compensation for
workers," he said.

From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 10
August

Land grab 'winners' face a harsh
reality

VLAKFONTEIN Farm was resettled by blacks yesterday as part of
what officials describe as a "fast track" land-reform programme launched this
week. Paulos Viljoen, the former owner at Vlakfontein, left the 2,000-acre
cattle ranch after it appeared among the 804 properties listed for "compulsory
acquisition" in June. No compensation is being paid for the land. About 200
farms are to be resettled initially. The government says it plans to take over
nearly half of the 30 million acres owned by about 4,500 white farmers who
comprise about one per cent of the national population.

A vast expanse of grassland greeted the 14 settlers yesterday
as they arrived at their new home, 250 miles south-west of Harare. Smartly
dressed in their best clothes, the 10 men and four women were transported from
Gweru, the nearest town. As they gathered to hail the first seizure of a white
farm in Midlands Province since the current land grab began, they sang: "We
Thank Our Ancestors for Answering Our Prayers." Cephas Msipa, the provincial
governor, told the group: "This is a historic day. After 20 years, land is
coming to the people today. We are giving you something you can call your own."
Mr Msipa promised to resettle another 120 Midlands farms, adding: "We will not
stop there." The audience applauded and joined him in chanting the ruling
Zanu-PF party's slogans. Then they turned to their dry, remote and ill-equipped
new property.

Although Vlakfontein is in the heart of Zimbabwe's cattle
country, all but two of the settlers have no cows. No water points or boreholes
have been provided and there is no housing. The settlers will have to build
their own, and will find themselves isolated. The nearest main road is a 10-mile
drive along a bumpy track. Gweru is another 30 miles away. Each settler will be
given 140 acres on which to support his family. Without cattle, they will be
able to make use of only a tiny fraction of the land where crops can survive. Mr
Msipa admitted that most of Vlakfontein would be unused unless cattle were
donated. He called for help from international donors.

The committee responsible for choosing the beneficiaries of
land reform in the Midlands is dominated by Zanu-PF functionaries and leaders of
the War Veterans' Association. Mr Msipa denied that land would be given only to
government loyalists, yet all of Vlakfontein's settlers were supporters of
Zanu-PF. Self-styled veterans of the war against white rule in the Seventies
were present at the handover ceremony. Such veterans led a wave of invasions of
white-owned farms this year, and have been blamed for much of the violence in
the campaign for June's parliamentary poll which claimed 37 lives. Opposition
supporters are fearful of even applying for resettlement, while many of the
successful applicants have no farming expertise.

Some of Vlakfontein's settlers had no intention of living on
their newly acquired land. Kudokwasha Sango described himself as an auto
electrician from Gweru. He said: "I want this land as a money-spinner. I have no
cattle, but I will work hard." Cornelius Ferro, another settler who is a clerk
in Gweru's law courts, also owns no cattle, but pointed out: "We need to prove
to the world that we are good at farming." Vlakfontein once exported beef and
earned hard currency for Zimbabwe's crisis-hit economy. At least 15 families
lived on its land and worked for the farmer, so the number of winners is almost
exactly matched by the number of losers. Previous resettlement schemes have been
crippled by a lack of skills and support. Bob Vaughan-Evans, from the regional
office of the CFU, said: "They [government officials] have to be seen to be
moving people on to the land as fast as possible, but they're starting with no
resources. It's a great risk. Without more help, they won't succeed as farmers."
The plains of Vlakfontein will be a harsh place to learn.

From the Financial Gazette, 10
August

Danes demand full land compensation
from govt

DENMARK said this week it will demand full compensation from
the Zimbabwe government if commercial farms in the country owned by Danish
citizens are expropriated for the resettlement of peasants. Danish ambassador
Erik Fiil said his government would press for full compensation, including the
value of the soil in line with an investment protection agreement signed between
Zimbabwe and Denmark in 1996. The government has repeatedly said it will only
compensate farmers for improvements made on the farms and not for the value of
the land, a stance which has put Zimbabwe on a collision course with several key
Western donors, including Denmark.

Fiil said the provisions of the investment protection agreement
would be invoked if any of the farms owned by Danish citizens were seized for
resettlement. The ambassador had been asked to confirm comments by Danish Aid
Minister Jan Trojborg to that country's parliamentary foreign affairs committee
that Denmark would demand compensation from Zimbabwe if farms owned by its
citizens were expropriated. "Based on the investment protection agreement
between Denmark and Zimbabwe, it must be expected that in the event of
expropriation, Denmark will be able to invoke the provision of the agreement
providing for full compensation for potential expropriation of Danish-owned
property," Trojborg had said last week. The minister said two Danish-owned farms
appeared on the Zimbabwe government's list of farms that were earmarked for
seizure in June. One of the farms is owned by a Danish citizen and another by a
Danish corporation based in Zimbabwe.

Fiil said he did not have details of Danish farms targeted for
acquisition, although he was aware that Danes probably owned about 10 commercial
farms in Zimbabwe. The investment protection pact was signed in October 1996 by
then Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and Danish Minister of Development Paul
Nielson. Presidential spokesman George Charamba said the government was not
targeting investment projects in its land acquisition plan and thus the issues
raised by Denmark did not arise.

From The Financial Gazette, 10
August

Welshman Mabhena's farm
invaded

BULAWAYO - Welshman Mabhena, the sacked governor of
Matabeleland North, said yesterday that suspected independence war veterans and
villagers had invaded his 100-hectare farm near Nkayi. Mabhena, fired by
Pre-sident Robert Mugabe last month for allegedly being too critical of
government policies and allowing the opposition MDC to launch successful
campaigns in rural Matabeleland North, said the invaders were threatening to
start parcelling out his farms to land-hungry villagers. "The invaders arrived
on Tuesday. Those I spoke to said they were sent by their leaders in the
province to invade the farm," Mabhena said. "There are two men who seem to be in
charge of the operations there."

Independent sources, speaking form Nkayi, confirmed that
Mabhena's Kellegar Farm had been run over by rag-tag war veterans, jobless
youths and villagers who said they were landless and wanted to be given pieces
of plots on the farm. Mabhena said two other farms near his property had also
been invaded. The two are said to belong to a Bulawayo High Court judge and a
wellknown business family here. "It looks as if I am being targeted," said an
emotional Mabhena, whose sacking as governor has sparked an outcry in
Matabeleland. "I am being treated like a Boer," he said, referring to South
Africa's once dominant and ruling tribe which lost power in that country's first
all-race elections in 1994.

But Obert Mpofu, the new governor for the province who has been
at loggerheads with Mabhena over a range of issues, said he was unaware of the
invasions. Police in Inyathi district, which is close to Nkayi, yesterday said
villagers had mistakenly thought that Mabhena's farm belonged to white
commercial farmers whose land the veterans, with government support, have been
seizing across the country since February. "The people who went into Mabhena's
farm thought it belonged to a white farmer in the area but it was later
explained to them that it belonged to the former governor. They have since left
the property and moved onto two other farms," a police spokesman said. The
Financial Gazette was unable yesterday to visit Mabhena's farm or the other two
that have also been reported to be under occupation.

From The Star (SA), 10
August

Zimbabwe banks threaten to pull
farming plug

Harare - Zimbabwe's emergency economic recovery plan was jolted
on Wednesday when the country's bankers warned that they would not fund farming
this year unless President Robert Mugabe's government stopped violence on white
commercial farms and guaranteed the future of the key agricultural sector. The
Zimbabwe Bankers Association said the country's financial institutions might not
be able to provide financing to farmers in the 2000/2001 season because of
disruptions to cropping and the government's controversial land redistribution
plan. The Financial Gazette said the bankers' warning fuelled fears that
Zimbabwe could be headed for severe food shortages next year and added to the
woes piling on new Finance Minister Simba Makoni as he tries to turn around the
country's teetering economy. Makoni is in charge of the implementation of the
emergency Zimbabwe Millennium Economic Recovery Programme, an ambitious 18-month
plan aimed at pulling the country out of a crisis manifesting itself in record
high interest and inflation rates, and runaway poverty and unemployment.

BAZ president Greg Brackenridge told the Financial Gazette that
the banks were reluctant to commit themselves to financing the needs of
commercial farmers in the face of mounting uncertainty over the future of the
agricultural sector in the country. The sector, the backbone of Zimbabwe's
economy, faces collapse because government supporters have seized control of
white-owned commercial farms which produce the bulk of the country's exports and
a large slice of its food. Farming is also being hurt by uncertainty about the
number of farms the government plans to acquire for resettling landless
peasants.

Mugabe's government added further confusion to an
already-befuddled industry last month when it announced it would acquire a
further 3 000 farms on top of more than 800 others it had already earmarked for
seizure in June. Brackenridge said the bankers had already raised their concerns
with the relevant authorities but could not disclose the outcome of these
discussions. "There is a considerable degree of urgency that is necessary in
resolving this uncertainty because the planting season is already upon us and
the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe is actively pursuing this matter with the
appropriate authorities." Brackenridge said about 85 percent of the banks'
exposure to the agricultural sector was in the form of seasonal finance, which
is normally repaid from crop proceeds. He gave no figures, although the exposure
is believed to run into billions of Zimbabwe dollars. It is understood that the
bankers have already communicated their stance to the CFU, the umbrella body for
Zimbabwe's dominant 4 500 white commercial farmers who are at the centre of the
land crisis.

From The Financial Gazette, 10
August

ZANU PF plots Mugabe's
ouster

SEVERAL senior ZANU PF members are behind a radical plan to
overhaul the party's constitution at its special congress in November to allow
members to challenge President Robert Mugabe for the presidency of Zimbabwe,
party insiders disclosed this week. The plan, supported by many of the party's
young Turks, would allow senior ZANU PF members to offer themselves for the 2002
presidential election should Mugabe decide to run again. ZANU PF's present
constitution says only the president of the party, who is Mugabe, can contest
the national presidential elections on the ruling party's ticket. The November
congress is set to officially endorse the party's candidate for the 2002
presidential poll.

Mugabe, his deputies Joseph Msika and Simon Muzenda and ZANU
PF's national chairman John Nkomo were the only ones who were re-elected to
their positions when the party held its extraordinary congress in Harare last
December. According to ZANU PF's constitution, a member elected by congress to
head the party automatically becomes the party's candidate in the event of a
presidential election. The sources said it was now up to Mugabe to publicly
announce whether he will run again in 2002 but some felt that decision could not
be left to him alone and were agitating for ZANU PF's constitution to be
changed. These senior officials were apparently concerned that the ruling
party's governing troika was ageing but showing no signs of relinquishing
power.

Their suggestion was that ZANU PF's constitution should be
amended to allow any party member interested in contesting the state
presidential election to do so without necessarily standing for the party's
leadership. "We want the provisions (for presidency of Zimbabwe) to be
flexible," one senior party leader told the Financial Gazette this week. "We
want a situation where a senior party member can run for presidential elections
without necessarily being the president of the party. We will push for those
amendments to be effected at the congress," he said.

Many ZANU central committee members are understood to be
supporting the amendments that have been preceded by intense lobbying by
influential party officials. According to the sources, the proposed amendments
are also meant to pressure Mugabe to pave the way for a new ZANU PF candidate to
contest the 2002 presidential elections while Mugabe stays on as head of the
party. The amendments are also aimed at killing any notion by Mugabe to anoint
his successor, the sources said. ZANU PF's information secretary Nathan
Shamuyarira said the party's November special congress would clear outstanding
party matters. "We don't know as yet what will be on the agenda as the
compilation will be done after the principal organs of the party have met and
when the time approaches," he said. "Please talk to Zvobgo about anything to do
with amendments to the party's constitution. He is the better person to explain
to you how it is done and the procedures," Shamuyarira said.

ZANU PF's legal affairs secretary Eddison Zvobgo, who himself
has expressed an interest in the state presidency should Mugabe decide not to
run, could not be reached for comment. The sources said several formal and
informal meetings convened by ZANU PF throughout the provinces as post-mortems
of the June parliamentary elections had found a rising groundswell that Mugabe
steps down from the 2002 presidential contest to save the party from an
embarrassing and crushing defeat. Many party members felt that the ruling party
had a better chance to win the presidential election with a new and untainted
candidate. Mugabe, however, still commands considerable support among the
party's rank and file and its rampaging war veterans, and senior ZANU PF
officials fear he may be tempted by this backing to run again in the projected
poll.